How cables attach to towers changes a bridge's load-bearing strength. Both suspension and cable-stayed bridges use cables, but they connect them to the towers in different ways. When you build scale models and add weights until each bridge fails, the difference becomes clear. The cable-stayed design held nearly twice the weight. A suspension bridge collapsed right after a single cable snapped, showing how one weak point can destroy the whole structure's ability to hold weight.

Suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges both use cables, but they connect them to the towers in different ways — and that difference matters when weight is applied. You build scale models of each type from balsa wood and twine, then add weights to a hanging basket one at a time until something fails. When the results come in, the cable-stayed design holds nearly twice as much before it breaks.

How cables connect to the tower changes everything about how a bridge handles heavy loads. When cables fan out from the tower, they spread force more evenly across the deck. In one test, cable-stayed bridges held nearly twice the weight of suspension bridges built from the same materials — and one cable-stayed bridge never broke at all.